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School of Thought: Existentialism | Hri-Write

Existentialism is a philosophical school of thought that deals with human existence, trying to explain the purpose of a human life. Existentialism, like many other schools of thought, is of course only a speculation and something we made up, take what you read here with a pinch of salt ( after all, I don't know any more about life than you do! ) If I were to try to explain existentialism easily, I'm afraid I'll lose out on its intricacies, but I'll give it a shot anyway. Existentialism, at its most fundamental level, says that every person is responsible for defining their own purpose in this world and that we are governed by our free will. Existentialism says that we are not here to 'find purpose', but rather to 'create our reality and purpose'. It sounds simple, but that's because I've tried to break down roughly a few centuries worth of study and philosophical evolution into four sentences. Existentialism originated as a school o...
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Pokémon Go, the augmented reality sensation

So, a lot of cool things happened in 2000. Mainly, I was born. Probably nothing more memorable other than that. If you’ve been on the internet — or, well, on Earth— lately, you've probably heard about Pokémon Go. You may be wondering what the hell is going on. Don't worry, I too was asking "What are Pokemon?", but that was all the way back in 2005, if you've never heard of Pokémon, time to get out of your cave, Cletus. 

Nevermind, let me quickly introduce you to Pokémon. From Vox.com:
Pokémon is a Nintendo franchise that launched in the 1990s. In its world, "trainers" travel the world to catch varied monsters called Pokémon — rats, dragons, swordlike creatures, and more — and use these critters to fight each other. The trainer’s goal is to "catch ’em all," as the franchise’s slogan suggests, and become a Pokémon master by defeating prestigious trainers known as gym leaders and Elite Four.
Well, Pokémon Go is Nintendo's latest creation, and this time, it's not for the Gameboy or any other handheld consoles. It's for everyone's favorite and most used gadget; the mobile phone. It is also plays nothing like the previous Pokemon games. While the goal still remains to, neatly summed up by the iconic catchphrase, "Gotta catch em all", it takes it strides further by using this up-and-coming technology called Augmented Reality, which mixes digital aspects with real-world ones.

This is what it looks like:
Shamelessly stolen from Armaan Vananchal's timeline

It's pretty fascinating, I know. Probably the most realistic and fascinating part about this game is that it makes very good use of your phone's clock and GPS. If you're near a park, more grass and bug type Pokemon will spawn. If you're at the lake, more water type Pokemon appear. Well, if you're playing at night, nocturnal Pokemon will spawn. I don't advise this, though, because there's a lot of crazy people roaming the streets at night. Not me, but like you guys, and mainly everyone except for me.

Another thing that makes this game so special is that the game adds hubs, known as PokeStops or Gyms, where players can come together to meet or battle. These too, are created based on real-world locations, such as restaurants, actual gyms, malls, and in some cases, churches. 

In conclusion, this game, surprisingly is not the only of its kind. There have been a few games that tried to use Augmented Reality in the past, but none have reached this level of popularity before. I guess when you establish a brand and then use it decades later, you can leech off its prior sucess, huh? I, personally wouldn't be surprised if I see AR being used for different apps in the future.



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